Excited to move to Los Angeles (extended stay, loft, how much)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by JCheng91

or stay in narrow minded bible belt state Alabama.

I'll second the previous post. If you drove, lived, worked, or shopped in Huntsville AL, you would think you were in Silicon Valley. Very high tech.

One in 10 engineer/scientists have a PHD
City with the highest percentage of engineers in the USA
wealthiest city in the State
2005 #2 most affordable metro in the US by pay and cost of living standards
2006 #1 most affordable metro in the US by pay and cost of living standards
2006 top 10 metro Green Friendly city due to acres of parks and miles of nature / biking trails
FORBES Magazine 2005: Huntsville 6th best Metro in the US for Business
fastest growing metro in the state
roughly 10,000 JOBS transfering in the next few years from Washinton DC
economically strongest and most diverse in the state.
one of the highest median incomes in the Southeast

[CourtneyW]

OK.................? Your point is....? If i wanted to be an engineer or a scientist then I would go to Huntsville..but I want to be an Actor..so I'm going to LA...plain and simple.

[astrogal]

Courtney, I say go for your dreams....you are young enough that if you screw up, you can still recover from it. But have a plan. Do you want to be in films or theater? There are people who only do extra work. It is a big business with many parts and you need to figure out what it is you want to do. Do you have a resume up on backstage.com? A totally awesome and professionally done myspace or facebook page where you can send people to see some things you have done and your different looks? My sweetie got 3 jobs off that since we landed here....not well paying I should add but at least it was something. Every bit helps. These are things you can be working on now and a good start.

You can go to school and do theater and stuff there also don't forget.....it will help you hone your skills. Trust me, you will move out here and your day is NOT going to be busy with casting calls because most of them are not open calls....and for every job, many people will have submitted a resume and pic. You need to figure out how you will survive out here. Low skill/no skill jobs are not all that easy to get out here. School is the best route because you can get student loans to help you with your living expenses.

Be prepared to be really broke...they pay good for blood out here BTW....especially if you have something other then A or B.

And don't think LA is the be all and end all of acting. There are other markets....NYC and Toronto for instance. My sweetie started in NYC which is what got him the jobs he did here. London is a great place to go for theater work. Stay open in your mind and your direction.

Good luck!

[astrogal]

Another thing Courtney is you need to be prepared to work for free to build up copy and credit...at least for a little bit. That's why they call it 'paying your dues'!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by CourtneyW

but I want to be an Actor

Just a fun hypothetical question...

If you know your average annual salary in acting was going to be $50K for the rest of your life, would you still pursue acting?

[Ankhharu]

Originally Posted by Charles

Just a fun hypothetical question...

If you know your average annual salary in acting was going to be $50K for the rest of your life, would you still pursue acting?

I know that question is not for me, but just to give you the mindset of an actor, thats my salary right now and I plan on leaving it behind to pursue acting fulltime. Hopefully by the end of this year when I will have saved up enough to take off to LA. It's not about money, but doing what you love for a living.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Ankhharu

I know that question is not for me, but just to give you the mindset of an actor, thats my salary right now and I plan on leaving it behind to pursue acting fulltime. Hopefully by the end of this year when I will have saved up enough to take off to LA. It's not about money, but doing what you love for a living.

Love don't pay the rent.

[Ankhharu]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Love don't pay the rent.

Who said anything about working for free? If i'm going to work, i'd rather take my chances at something I love to do by working a job I hate for awhile, while pursuing that hope, as opposed to make more money at...a job I hate for the rest of my days. Contrary to popular belief there are those of us who hate corporate jobs, don't desire to be doctors or lawyers and such.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Ankhharu

Who said anything about working for free?

Who said heading off to LA to be an actor has a high success rate? Most actors don't make any money acting.

[Ankhharu]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Who said heading off to LA to be an actor has a high success rate? Most actors don't make any money acting.

If any of us thought it was easy or believed there was a high success rate, would we bother defending such a decision? It would be self explanatory. Why do people put some much time and effort into trampling someone else's aspirations? Just because you couldn't do it doesn't mean she can't do it.